The Rock on Expansion

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MGB01
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Re: The Rock on Expansion

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GDAWG wrote: Sun Jun 26, 2022 12:05 pm
MGB01 wrote: Sun Jun 26, 2022 2:28 am
laxtreme56 wrote: Sun Jun 26, 2022 12:19 am While I wasn't really impressed with The Rock's non-answer, I was quite impressed with the amount of media coverage. That's a ton of cameras and microphones for an open tryout.
That was probably just a "humor them" answer, Dwayne knows damn well there's not gonna be a Hawaii team anytime soon. Where would they play? The new Aloha Stadium is at least two years out. So I don't really fault him for giving a diplomatic non-answer--what should he do, start going off on them like they were Michael Cole or Jonathan Coachman?

A 'NICE SHIRT 25 CENTS!' (43 today) might sound good to us but when you're building, not so much.
If they are working in real time then yes. But I have friends who live there who think it's more realistic that the new Aloha Stadium is 4 to 5 years out instead of two.
Exactly, there's been so many stops and restarts with it from what I understand that it won't be til the mid-2020s at best.

Similar to what we got up here with our new (in waiting) 5000-seat downtown stadium that's going to take over as one of the hubs for the downtown/south city HSs and supposedly a USL team (that was supposed to be here this year). They haven't even updated it in six months that's how great it is, and that was when they finally broke ground. Meanwhile the old stadium Albi is basically our old Aloha, only worse. No one's gone to it since the Shock played an outdoor game in 2011. The northern high schools relocated to a new stadium on my old middle school field during the winter-spring 2021 season. If the USL team's playing there before the new one's ready good luck with that.
AltFootballFan
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Re: The Rock on Expansion

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Yeah, he's talking about the far future. He mentions needing to franchise out the current teams, then expansion, owners for those expansion teams, then they would consider Hawaii.
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Re: The Rock on Expansion

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AltFootballFan wrote: Sun Jun 26, 2022 6:46 pm Yeah, he's talking about the far future. He mentions needing to franchise out the current teams, then expansion, owners for those expansion teams, then they would consider Hawaii.
Mars too, well after the Sea of Tranquility of course. :mrgreen:
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MarkNelson
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Re: The Rock on Expansion

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AltFootballFan wrote: Sun Jun 26, 2022 6:46 pm Yeah, he's talking about the far future. He mentions needing to franchise out the current teams, then expansion, owners for those expansion teams, then they would consider Hawaii.
I believe Hawaii might be on the short list for the XFL, and the fact they went to Hawaii for a Showcase is no accident. However, expansion before the second season might seem silly, but if the XFL takes off like the Rock and others hope it will, you will see a lot more expansion talk sooner than later.
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Re: The Rock on Expansion

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MarkNelson wrote: Mon Jun 27, 2022 9:20 am
AltFootballFan wrote: Sun Jun 26, 2022 6:46 pm Yeah, he's talking about the far future. He mentions needing to franchise out the current teams, then expansion, owners for those expansion teams, then they would consider Hawaii.
I believe Hawaii might be on the short list for the XFL, and the fact they went to Hawaii for a Showcase is no accident. However, expansion before the second season might seem silly, but if the XFL takes off like the Rock and others hope it will, you will see a lot more expansion talk sooner than later.
Sorry Mark, there no viable biz reason to have a team in Hawaii. MAYBE the championship... someday.

Are we set on 2022 cities quite yet? Will they announce this week or wait till after The 4th and USFL championship
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Re: The Rock on Expansion

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Two big ESPN events this month, A/C and ESPYs, would seem to be the time for it. Especially the former, a month after it's been unofficially confirmed by Aaron Wilson, the USFL championship game, and MITB at the Grand (I thought of that when NBC had an ad for it the other night).
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Re: The Rock on Expansion

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MarkNelson wrote: Mon Jun 27, 2022 9:20 am
AltFootballFan wrote: Sun Jun 26, 2022 6:46 pm Yeah, he's talking about the far future. He mentions needing to franchise out the current teams, then expansion, owners for those expansion teams, then they would consider Hawaii.
I believe Hawaii might be on the short list for the XFL, and the fact they went to Hawaii for a Showcase is no accident. However, expansion before the second season might seem silly, but if the XFL takes off like the Rock and others hope it will, you will see a lot more expansion talk sooner than later.
I honestly don't see any reason to expand to Hawaii. The potential positives of the market don't outweigh the headache of travel and scheduling.

As stupid as I think the NFL putting a team in London would be, it makes sense because there are 55 million people in England and you can grow the game big time there. That isn't the case in Hawaii. 1.5 million people live there, and I would imagine a good chunk of them would not care about an NFL team, let alone an XFL team.
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MarkNelson
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Re: The Rock on Expansion

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4th&long wrote: Mon Jun 27, 2022 10:11 am Sorry Mark, there no viable biz reason to have a team in Hawaii. MAYBE the championship... someday.
You might not think so, but if there is an investor in Hawaii that is ready to purchase a franchise. Then there would be a business reason.
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Re: The Rock on Expansion

Post by GregParks »

I too find expansion to Hawaii unlikely barring, as Mark said, some mystery investor (which selling franchises I would imagine is YEARS down the road).

I saw Rock’s appearance and placement of the Showcase in Hawaii as simply a nod to his own football background, which is a big reason he’s involved with the league, and it’s something he often posts about on social media in relation to the XFL.

Another thing to keep in mind, alluded to by Sam a few posts ago, is that home games in Hawaii would have to be limited to early afternoon starts there. The time zone difference for TV (and the need to get as many eyes on the product as possible) would be a significant issue I’d guess.
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Re: The Rock on Expansion

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MarkNelson wrote: Mon Jun 27, 2022 12:45 pm You might not think so, but if there is an investor in Hawaii that is ready to purchase a franchise. Then there would be a business reason.
Exactly. A single-entity league isn't going to put a football team in Hawaii. A single rich guy or gal who really wants to own a team in Hawaii might.
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